{
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    "title": "Australia appoint Muralitharan as consultant for Lanka series",
    "lang": "en",
    "series": "110",
    "cup_year": "2016",
    "article_type": "General",
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    "editor1": "<p><strong>Colombo, July 14 (CRICKETNMORE):&nbsp;<\/strong>Ahead of their three-match Test series against hosts Sri Lanka, Australia skipper Steve Smith has confirmed the appointment of legendary Muttiah Muralitharan as a consultant to work with the young spinners.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Murali&#39;s appointment comes after the Kangaroos had last month appointed former Lankan batsman Thilan Samaraweera to work with the Test hopefuls.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Smith said that the 44-year-old had already begun to work with Australia&#39;s spinners in their training sessions here, where the team arrived last weekend.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>&quot;Murali&#39;s got a lot of experience in Sri Lanka. He took a truckload of wickets. It&#39;s great to have someone like that helping our spinners in this series - to give us that insight. He&#39;s been really good around the group so far and he&#39;s enjoying his time with us,&quot; Smith was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Australia had previously hired the world&#39;s leading wicket-taker in a short-term consulting role ahead of their Test series against Pakistan, in the UAE, in 2014.&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Both off-spinner Nathan Lyon and left-armer Steve O&#39;Keefe, who are on the Sri Lanka tour, had worked with Murali on that occasion. He has had two training sessions with the Australia team in this stint so far.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>&quot;Murali has been fantastic around the guys. Murali loves the game of cricket, so I&#39;m sure he&#39;d work well with other teams as well - he&#39;s a fantastic coach,&quot; Australia coach Darren Lehmann said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The first of the three Tests will begin in Pallekele on July 26 while the second and the third match will be played respectively at Galle and Colombo.<\/p>\r\n",
    "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2016\/07\/muttiah-muralitharan-working-with-australia-on-sri-lanka-tour1.jpg",
    "alt_img": "Muttiah Muralitharan Image",
    "alt_title": "Muttiah Muralitharan",
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    "seo_title": "Australia appoint Muralitharan as consultant for Lanka series",
    "seo_desc": "Australia appoint Muralitharan as consultant for Lanka seriesColombo, July 14 (CRICKETNMORE):&nbsp;Ahead of their three-match Test series against hosts Sri Lank",
    "seo_keywords": "Muttiah Muralitharan, Steve Smith",
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    "created": "2016-07-14 16:12:00",
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